🎙️ Listen to this episode:
Full Transcript
Caloroga Shark Media. Hey there, I’m Johnny Mack with your Daily Comedy News. A daily briefing on stand up comedy comedians in the comedy industry. A sentence the algorithm loves, so I’ll keep saying it. Boy, Big exciting news from Jim Gaffigan.
You’re never gonna believe who he’s going to play in season four of HBO’s The Gilded Age? Are you excited for Season four? In Season four of HBO’s The Gilded Age, Bertha changed society at a cost. Now her family must reckon with the consequences as Agnes seizes an opportunity to regain her position.
Meanwhile, Marian forges a new path for herself, and Peggy works to be accept…
In this new era, you must be careful what you wish for. And you’ll never guess who Jim Gaffigan’s going to play in season four of HBO’s The Gilded Age. Have you guessed correctly? That’s right? He will play Grover Cleveland, the twenty second President of the United States.
In season four of HBO’s The Guilded Age, Jim Gaffigan’s President Grover Cleveland comes to New York to curry favor with the elite class. Congratulations to Nate Berghatzi. He is back on top. In Billboard’s monthly Comedy box score recap for January. Nate had been on top from August through November, but John Mulaney took the top spot in December.
Well, Nate is back on top. His seven shows grossed five point one million dollars and sold sixty four thy one hundred tickets. The rest of your list in fifth place, Jim Gaffigan grossed a million and a half. He sold seventeen thy nine hundred tickets across ten shows, So Jim is playing two thousand seat theaters. Thought he’d be playing a little bigger room.
Matt Riife grossed a million and a half two shows, seventeen thousand, nine hundred tickets. Bert Kreischer a million, six seven shows, twenty six thousand tickets. Number two, John Mulaney two point nine million, twenty nine one hundred tickets twelve shows, and again Nate six shows, sixty four one hundred, five point one million dollars. Jimmy Kimmel has a great idea that Jimmy Kimmel should host the White House Correspondence Dinner, and his logic makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, Kimmel is not hosting it.
As Kimmell explains, this year, I guess Trump didn’t want to be made fun of by a comedian, So the host is a mentalist. We’ll have a mentalist and a mental case on stage together. Send your letters to Jimmy Kimmel. Kimmel explains, the mentalist is a guy named Oz Perlman. He’s an amazing performer, and I’m sure he’ll be able to predict what Trump isn’t thinking.
But this feels like a cop out to me, and I want to address the President directly on this. Mister President, please let me host this dinner. I’ve never asked you for anything before. Can you imagine you, me, the commissioner of the FCC, all at a table together. Think of the ratings.
That’s not a joke. That would be amazing. Kimmell said, I’ll even throw an award. You like awards. I’ll give you a brand new award.
The corresponding the Dundee corresponding, no one will ever get it. Besides you, please give the people what they want for once. This is our destiny together, you and me think about it. Let’s make it the greatest, hottest, most spectacular dinner of any kind ever. Chelsea Handler, who wants data, Joe Cooy, who once hosted The Golden Globes, who once made a joke about Taylor Swift, but I’m not doing that bit today.
She caught up with Cleveland dot Com. They were curious if Chelsea Handler feels more free on stage now is supposed to ten years ago. Chelsea said, freer and more responsible at the same time. As a comedian. Right now, it feels purposeful to give people a reprief from the world we’re living in, which is a very dark chapter in this country’s history.
I take having a good time very seriously, and I take making sure my audience has a good time very seriously. That matters. Cleveland was curious, what do you think comedy is actually for right now? The comfortable or the uncomfortable. Chelsea Handler said, definitely the uncomfortable.
Comfortable people don’t usually have the best personalities. I’m not trying to supply comedy for them. Comedy is for people who are struggling, who are being targeted, who want more humanity, not less, people who care about community, about families staying together. That’s who I’m talking to, all right, Chelsea, anything off limits in your comedy, she said, I don’t make fun of children, especially not ugly children. That’s not funny.
Otherwise, I pull from my stories, my adventures, my magnetic attraction to outrageousness. That’s where everything starts. Chris Fleming was on Caleb Heron’s podcast and the name Mike Birbiglia came up. Now, you may recall recently Mike Birbiglia passed a note to John Mulaney and Berbiggs apparently had written down the name of a comedian that those two think might possibly, perhaps maybe be doing an impression of John Mulaney. Now, in the Great Comedy War of twenty twenty six, I’m on team John Marco SERSI against those mean bullies Berbiglia and m’laney, And I think we could put Chris Fleming on the side of John Marco again.
When the Great Comedy War breaks out, I’m choosing sides and I’m going with team fun. Anyway, here’s Chris Fleming. You say things about people that I’m like, if I did that, I would be in trouble. No, but it only makes them wilder for me when I say it. Yeah, Barbiglia won’t stop ringing me.
Yeah. Have you said things about Mike, Oh, so many things. Yeah, I can’t stop talking about You really get away with these things? I don’t know how. Yeah, I think it’s a kink people have.
We’ll have to say. See if for Biglily a response to that. Maybe he’ll pass a note. I don’t want to get a note. Jim Brewer caught up with The Advocate ahead of some recent shows down in Baton Rouge and they were curious if Jim would be doing any Baton Rouge jokes.
Jim said, Yeah. Before the show, I usually hit a downtown area and I walk around. I hitting coffee shafts, so I haven’t lunch in town, maybe listen to conversations, or I just try to get the feel of the area. And that’s usually my opening couple of minutes, trying to get the local field before I launched into what I’ve loosely planned for the evening. I have told this story before, but I will tell it again.
Absolutely he does that. I’m positive that we were at the Aspen Comedy Festival. I went out to breakfast with Jim and Pete Corielly. We got like pancakes or something. It was snowing outside, and at one point Jim goes, there’s no festival in this festival, and it was just a thought, and we went on and had our breakfast, and then I don’t know, fourteen hours later, at a show that also included Dave Chappelle, Brewer got up and did ten minutes on there’s no festival at this festival, and did a whole routine about snowballfis, etc.
That I can guarantee you did not exist before we sat down for breakfast. So I absolutely believe it when he says he walks around town and looks for inspiration. Been there, done that, seen it? Jim, can we bring kids to your show? He said, I never suggest small kids, and only because they can’t understand half the material.
But I call it PG thirteen. And the only reason I say PG thirteen is more the awareness. I don’t curse, I don’t swear. I’m not going to go into subjects to make you cringe. I’ve been doing that for fifteen years or so, maybe more so.
No worries about bringing younger people. Jim described his comedy style as observational. He said, I say clean Richard Pryor, if that makes sense, because Richard Prior make deserve life and we tell it, and that’s all. I’m a storyteller. I’m too dry today, ice coffee, everybody.
I can’t get my Brewer growl on. I live life and then I turn around and tell it and whatever’s going on in life that everyone relates to. Jim, what did you take away from your time on SNL. I know it sounds crazy, but what I took away from it was I mostly wanted to control my own destiny in my career and being home more after that show and set my own pace in life and in this business. Again I worked with Jim.
It’s probably twenty years ago now, Yep, that’s exactly where he was. Just wanted to be home with his family, taking care of his dad, looking out for the kids, and did not trust the industry at all. Jim, do you still pursue film roles? This is a good interview, Jim said, I never really got to do films I truly want to do. I’m literally at the stage now where I started writing more and honestly, I’m more in a drama than anything I’ve ever done.
Back then, I was chasing harder to be in movies and being the spotlight. Well, that’s the last of my desires these days. To me, I’m more about inspiring, inspiring, healing, helping people through with laughter. I’ve written some I’m writing one now. I don’t even think i’d be in it.
To be honest with you, I think I’m too old to play the part. I got to get down to Australia. I was in Australia at the end of twenty fifteen. I loved Australia like I love it, I’m obsessed with it. I mean, the weather’s awesome, the people are super nice, the country’s pretty, and it just seemed like less complicated, maybe just less developed, Like you know, there was not everything was a parking lot, yet not everything was a TJ Max and a Target and a Starbucks.
Like it just seemed like, in some ways, a simpler version of America. I’m not sure the Australians would appreciate that description, but I mean that with love, and I would love to actually live there, at least for a while. I also love living in America. Let me be clear, I’m not saying I’m not saying America sucks. I’m just saying I also like Australia.
I also really like France. I also really like Ireland. I also really like Italy. So what we’re gonna have to do is run more mid roll commercials so I can fund my international nomad life telling you about comedy festivals like the twenty twenty six Sydney Comedy Festival. It will present over four hundred shows in its biggest program ever.
I’ll be coming up in April. If you’ve listened for a few years, you know that I like to cover that one a lot and play some cliffs on some people that are not normally talked about on this American focused program. Some names you don’t know. But I think it’s just fun to take a look at what else is happening in the world. And it is a great festival.
You know, if you guys want to write me down and cover it Sydney Comedy Festivals to shoot me a note. The festival announced some international and local talent, including Daniel Slass, David Darney, Josh Thomas, Cilia Pacola, Joanne McNally and Reuben Kay. They joined the already announced Tiffany Hattish Any creator of Baby Reindeer, Richard Gadd. The Sydney Comedy Festival General manager James Declass who should email me? Invite me?
He said, With almost four hundred shows over five massive weeks of coming, We’re pleased to welcome you to the biggest Sydney Comedy Festival program ever. Get ready to laugh, Sydney. We have many surprises in store for you.
Meanwhile in Perth, also in April and May.
Hey, Perth, guys, I’ll come. Shoot me a note. They have also announced Daniel Sloss, Joanne McNally, Barcelona based Irish comedian Kyla Cobbler, and Canada’s Colin Mockery Very International Festival in Perth. They are also announcing the return of Malaysian doctor turned comedian doctor Jason Long UK born Australian resident nurse Georgie Carroll, Hong Kong’s Shawn Locke, Tim and an annual visitor to Perth, Ireland’s David o’darty. Some more Irish folk coming Chris Kent Andya Martin, Mike Rice and Alison Spittel from England, elf Lyons, Russian British comedian Oga Koch, Festival stalwart Stephen k Amos, He’s really great and UK drag Queen Myra Dubois.
Vanity Fair had put out an article a couple weeks back. It’s been busy around here. The headline Bowen Yang, Brittany Broski and eight other hosts who are shattering the talk show format. Tap the brakes there, Vanity Fair. They tell us the talk show is alive and well and living online.
It’s Jennifer Lawrence sobbing convulsively as the effects of Hot one Spicy Wings kick in, Tina Fey reading Bowen Yang, the Riot Act on Las Culturistas, and some other examples. Vanity Fair tells us for decades cheeky daddy figures from Jack Paar and Johnny Carson to Jimmy’s Fallon and Kimmel sat atop the Hollywood food chain. You know, I love Late Night at all, but if your premise here is going to be like poking Jack Parr, I mean really, I mean, why don’t we talk about like comedians like Mark Twain used to wear seer sucker suits and now Matt rif’ces on TikTok. I mean, what are you talking about? Did Mark Twain wear a seer sucker suit?
Is that an accurate description? It created a mental picture, It got the job done. They were industry gaatekeepers presigning over es, central press, tour pit stops, and thresholds where an up and comer could become a household name overnight. The newer and more democratized model, where digital influencers wield more clout than many traditional stars, relies on realness. Dude, None of this stuff is real?
Are you kidding me? Between the sets and the filters and the gimmicks like, for example, Hey, celebrity, come over and eat some spicy wings. You think that’s real? Come on. Royal Court creator Brittany Broski said, the whole point of these internet based shows is people crave a real, parasocial connection with their favorite celebrities.
There used to be this barrier between celebrities and the average person, and that is kind of dissolved. Has it is Pete Davidson having you over to his garage Vanity fairs? Brain kickback in and they wrote, talk shows have always been performative, conjuring an illusion of intimacy between strangers surrounded by lights, cameras and a studio audience.
And then they’re brain short circuit again, They wrote, the new crop up celeb…
Yeah, like you know, feeding somebody spicy wings. Nothing artificial about that. To stop with this, I can’t with this. Go read Invanity Fair. This makes me want to throw my computer across the room.
I’m gonna wrap up for today and go back to my cabin in the woods. Up on Old Men Mountain Metric Company News for Today, Say Tomorrow